Well here is the next installment of my continuing Everquest 2 update. Joridel is nearing level 18, but I’ve set him aside for the moment. While I enjoy the Greater Faydark zone, I am at a loss as what to do next besides kill orcs outside of Crushbone and do the few quests there I have left. I have tried looking into the other zones but they all seem to high. I think I missed Lesser Fay, maybe that is the ticket.

Until I get back on Joridel though, I have unpacked Jerrek, my now level 26 Iksar Monk. I’ve been tinkering around with him, trying to relearn all of the Monk play mechanics and his abilities, and also figure out the area that I had at one time memorized. Looking through his extensive quest log, I had no idea where to begin, nor where any of the items/mobs/places were to begin with. I decided to concentrate on some Writ quests (because Jerrek had almost no status), and also the level 20ish armor quests. I am on part three now and stumped as to where to look, maybe the internets can help. I was also shocked to see that he had only one achievement point, and then came to realize that back then you had to be level 20 to start gaining achievement exp. *sigh*

One interesting point I had while playing Jerrek was ending up in the Kingdom of Sky starting area. Looking off the cliff at the floating islands was just amazing!

Right now Jerrek is sitting in a Gnoll jail cell after stumbling into a Gnoll Abductor. Imagine my surprise when he hits me and the loading screen pops up. I thought the mechanic was really interesting, and then it clicked that this might be part of the Splitpaw adventure pack. So right now I am going to look that up, and if it is I plan on buying that sucker, so I at least have some sort of straight forward way to level while I relearn all of Jerrek’s surroundings.

Sorry (who am I really apologizing to, honestly?) for the gap in posting, but there has been much chaos in the house lately. My new computer arrived and after fudging around with Vista for a few days I have finally gotten most everything to run. Everquest 2 gave me the most problems, but I wont bother going into them now since I have it running fairly smoothly, except for the “ran out of memory” crash that happens every now and then, I am taking it with a grain of salt; at least I can LOG IN.

Enough of that though, I’ll have an update on EQ2 coming shortly. On to other topics, I highly recommend checking out I Buy Power ( http://www.ibuypower.com ) if you plan on buying a new computer any time soon. It is more or less the same as if you buy each of the components separately and built it yourself, except they do the building and testing for you. This insures that the components work. The only problems I have ran into is having to reinstall the sound card drivers to be compatible with the 5.1 speakers that I ordered with the computer, and the fact that the usb ports on the case itself don’t seem to be working. I really don’t want to worry about that though, and am otherwise VERY happy with the purchase. Along with a new 19′ widescreen LG lcd monitor, my gaming looks and runs better than ever.

Besides fooling around with my new computer I managed to pick up some more xbox 360 games do to the Circuit City clearance sale going on right now, which I found out about at Cheap Ass Gamer ( http://www.cheapassgamer.com ) Cheapy D runs a great site that posts the most up to date sales and best deals on video games, electronics, and other forms of media. He also runs an excellent podcast that I believe I have mentioned before. Anyways back to the sale, I picked up Gun for $16.96 plus tax (which I am about to start playing) along with having Condemned’s price changed to fit the sale (which I bought in June). With the money I received back on Condemned I also picked up Quake 4 since it to was on clearance. For a full list of the games on sale check out the video game deals forum at Cheapassgamer, but be warned, your Circuit City may have already been picked clean. Quake 4 has me especially excited, mainly because it comes packaged with Quake 2 on a bonus disc. Back in the days of my youth, I wasted many hours with friends playing Quake 2 multi player, and while the options are extremely limited on the disc, I am sure playing the single player will bring back some fond memories.

Speaking of Condemned, I managed to beat it last night, and make it through to the end without wetting myself. I still stand by my earlier impression that it is the scariest game I have ever played, and it continued to be all the way until the end. I can safely say that it’s sequel is my most anticipated game right now, and I cannot wait for it! I’m going to save my heart the trouble and set it aside for right now, and start Gun, but some time soon I’ll head back and play through it again to unlock all of the achievements.

Trying to play a little catch up here with the posts, I’ve been busy the last couple of days doing yard work (laying down sod, etc) for the new house so I haven’t had to much extra free time. Haven’t had a chance to play many games the last two days, itching to play some EQ2 and Condemned. I think I am getting close to the end of Condemned, and while I am disappointed it will be over, I am slightly relieved as well! This is one game I can tell I will be replaying again soon, especially with all of the new information about the second game being released. I can’t wait!

Gaming, unfortunately, is going to have to wait. The girlfriend and I are heading to the airport with her little sister to send her back home today, and then she is going to be spending the night and some of Sunday with me. I’m sure I will be to distracted to be playing with anything, other than her that is! (Ha!) This long distance thing is killing me.

Her replacement mother board finally came and I put the computer back together, and thank the lord it worked. I was right in thinking it was a MB problem. She’ll be so excited to have her Sims back! My new computer is sadly sitting at the local Fedex, where it has been for to days with the tag ‘Not due for delivery’. Bastards can’t deliver it even though it is there just because I didn’t shell out a few more dollars. Way to go.

Veronica Mars is coming to a close. Two episodes left is all I have, and I am going to enjoy every last second. I really love the series now, and with each episode I watch, I become more disappointed that it has been canceled and that season three wont be out until October.

It has taken me long enough but I have just now sat down to make my first update. I am now eight hours into my new character, a Half Elf Warden named Joridel, who is half way through level 13, and have just received my first achievement point. Of course being a druid type priest class I sunk my first point into shape shifting and spent a good chunk of time running around as a tiger, very fun!Starting out in the new Kelethin area has been an interesting change of pace after leveling so many characters in that tired and boring starter island. I like the mushroom people that you run into shortly after beginning your adventure, and wonder if they are new or if I just never got to them when I originally played. After creating my new character I spent some time fiddling with the options and now have the settings optimal for this computer. It looks nice and runs fairly well, but needless to say I can’t wait until my new rig arrives so I can push the game to the max.I have set up both appearances (Original and Soga models) for my character but I’m not really sure which I prefer. I’ll throw up some screen shots of what each look like.One addition to the game that I was not expecting to run into in Faydark was the ability to climb. I know this was introduced in the first expansion, Desert of Flames, but I never had a character high level enough to make it out to that content and experience it. So imagine my surprise after being frustrated for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get to a quest NPC up on a part of a tree, and I suddenly start climbing up the tree when I got to close! Now I have taken advantage of every climbable source I can find, and I have to say I have also fallen to my death many many times. Maybe I should have rolled a Fae. (…Nahh..)That’s it for the first update, more to come soon. Maybe I will even take Jerrek out of retirement!

Check out the video I just posted, HILARIOUS Ventrillo Harassment videos. That is just one of many, check out the guys YouTube account for all of his work. I wasted a few hours last night watching all of his stuff, some more than once.

I played my Condemned level of the day, and the game still scares the shit out of me. I am having a great time with it, and while I want to play more, I think one level a day is all I can take haha.

I’m in the process of catching up on my podcasts, they have started to back up since I haven’t had my usual listening times lately (On the way to class, driving, while playing an MMO). The last one has started to change, due to Everquest 2 (which I will make a post about soon) but I’m having to pause it occasionally, because I really enjoy the voice overs during quests and such. Very nice touch to the game.

Veronica Mars just gets better every episode, I am now half way through the third disk of season two, and am doing my best to savor each and every minute of the show. I found out I can watch all of the episodes online for free, and that may just be the direction I go if I find myself not being able to wait until October for the release of season three. I am truly disappointed that the show was canceled, and I really hope it isn’t due to the third season not living up to the first two.

That’s all for right now, I’m off to track down some dinner and then play some more EQ2, with a post all about that coming soon.

So of course I go the distance between posts, leaving my loyal fans (HA!) out in the cold as to what I have been doing. My summer semester is over (A-, and B!) and I am at home bumming around the new house, doing yard work and such. I was pretty darn sick during the last two weeks of the five week course though, and this resulted in me dropping off the face of the earth, including playing WoW. Yes I’ve yet again left the game, and I feel really bad because my guild is great, and I hate leaving them. I have just lost the motivation to play, and my two week absence did NOT help that at all. I managed to get Jerrek to level 59 and out into the outlands. I thought that maybe that would inspire me to play some more, but the drab Hellfire Peninsula just didn’t do it for me. Both Jerrek and Joridel (my 60 undead warrior) are sitting out there in the event that I return, and they have over 1k gold sitting on them. If I was smart I’d sell the account to someone who was looking to get back into the game, but just wanted to start the Burning Crusade content right away. Alas I am not.

If I quit Wow, then what have I been playing lately, you ask? Well I am finally giving my 360 some love, playing some Condemned that I managed to track down at the shitty little circuit city in town. I wont lie either, the game scares the bejesus out of me. I am aware that it isn’t a very long game, so I am only playing it in chunks, one level a day, but I am enjoying it immensely. I was overjoyed when I heard a sequel to the game is being made. In addition to Condemned, the 360 has been seeing some more action in the DVD department. A few weeks ago I picked up seasons one and two of Veronica Mars for $40, and just started watching them when I got home from school. I blew through the first season and am working on the second right now, trying to pace myself so I don’t finish it all at once. Needless to say I am hooked, and I absolutely love the character development of the show. I actually care about what happens and who does what, and after the episodes end, all I want to do is watch the next one. Season three (the final season /cry) will not be released until the end of October.

In other news, I am going stir crazy not seeing the girlfriend. Having to be in a long distance relationship is rough, especially after seeing the person every day for nearly a year. I will be seeing her next weekend hopefully, so I am really looking forward to that. Should have some special deliveries coming soon, a new motherboard the the girlfriend’s broken computer, and my very own brand new computer! I’ll throw up some pics and specs for it once it’s actually here, but that wont arrive until sometime in the beginning of July.

While I have lost my urge to play WoW, I am not out of the MMO loop all together. I had actually been thinking about Everquest 2 again for the past month, but really couldn’t do anything about it while at school, due to the fact I only had my laptop with me. Now that I am back at home with my PC, and fueled further by the thought of a newer even beefier rig coming soon, I went out and bought the newest expansion, Echoes of Faydwer. I just started it up today, and I’ll be posting a full review/update style post soon with my impressions of the new area, with my new half elf warden character. My Iksar monk is still there, sitting peacefully at level 25. To my great joy he is even on the server that I want to play on so I am sure once I get back into the rhythm of the game again I will give him another shot.

That’s all for now I think, I am about to go play my daily level of Condemned (and hopefully not mess my pants in the process.)